Sunday, April 2, 2017

EC to AAP: EVMs fine, ask yourself why you did not perform

The Election Commission Sunday reacted strongly to questions raised by AAP on the reliability of electronic voting machines in the context of the Punjab assembly elections, asking the party to “introspect” instead on why it could not perform according to its expectations.

The commission also said that AAP was free to file an election petition in the High Court to verify the votes cast in the recently concluded polls with data from the paper trail.

Reiterating that the “integrity of electoral process is fully preserved”, the EC stated: “The commission has put in place an elaborate technical and administrative system of safeguards to ensure error-free functioning of EVMs in elections. It is for your party to introspect as to why your party could not perform as per your expectations and it is unfair on the part of your party to attribute unsatisfactory poll performance of your party to the alleged tamperability of EVMs.”

It said that the “commission is fully satisfied with the tamper proof functioning of the ECI-EVMs”.

The EC’s letter came a day after it decided to send a team of high-level officers to supervise bypolls on April 9 in two assembly segments of Ater and Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh following reports that a Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machine used during a trial only dispensed slips with the BJP’s poll symbol.

Reacting to the EC’s letter, the AAP said it was “unfortunate that instead of taking due action, the Election Commission is issuing political statements on the issue”.